Schools

Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit Skyline High in Longmont

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, pictured here at New York University on April 10, will visit Skyline High School on May 8. (Michael Sisak / AP)

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is scheduled to visit Longmont's Skyline High School on May 8, federal and school district officials confirmed Wednesday.

A panel discussion on partnerships among schools, businesses and universities will include representatives from IBM and the University of Colorado at Boulder, as well as St. Vrain Valley School District superintendent Don Haddad, a teacher and a student. The event will not be open to the public.

Haddad said Duncan is visiting to learn more about Skyline High's STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) focus program and the partnerships it has formed with area businesses, such as IBM.

"It's a recognition and acknowledgment that the work of our students, our teachers and our staff have done developing excellent educational programs," Haddad said. About 400 community members, all building administrators and between 60 and 70 students are being invited to the school for Duncan's visit, he said.

Helen Littlejohn, a regional spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, wrote in the invitation, "The purpose of this community conversation is to give local educators, business leaders, parents, students, and other stakeholders a chance to hear directly from Secretary Duncan, state and local leaders, and education partners about community investment efforts and their impact on education."

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After voters approved the 2008 bond, the district remodeled Skyline High School to accommodate a new STEM Academy and a visual/performing arts academy. Both were immediately popular, with a higher-than-expected number of students enrolling in the focus programs.

To graduate with a STEM Academy certificate, students must successfully complete 28 credit hours, instead of the 24 ½ required for a regular diploma.

In 2010, the federal government awarded the St. Vrain Vrain Valley School District a $3.6 million grant through the Investing in Innovation program; matching funds from a local wireless company and IBM helped secure that grant.

The school district received a $16.5 million Race to the Top grant from the federal government in 2012. With those funds, the district expanded the STEM focus programs to all schools in the Skyline High feeder system and created an Innovation Center, where students and businesses collaborate to create solutions to real-world problems.

IBM and the school district also are working together to create a P-TECH school — Pathways in Technology Early College High School — that will be a two-year program for students interested in STEM careers. Assistant superintendent Regina Renaldi said Wednesday that P-TECH could be open in two years.

Skyline High School sophomore Koby Estabrook, 15, learns how to take apart a laptop computer at the school's Innovation Center in Longmont in this Jan. 21 photograph. (Matthew Jonas / Longmont Times-Call)

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